We Should Encourage Children To Tattle More.
We have all heard it so many times, parents will tell their children don’t be a tattle tale. No one likes a tattle tale. Or we’ll have fun colloquial phrases like, “snitches get stitches,” or “don’t be rat.” These ideas are reinforced in our mind through movies and television. Snitches really do get hurt and rats are killed every time you watch any gangster movie. So if you are raising your child to be successful in criminal activity or a gangster, definitely teach them to not to say something when they think another is doing wrong.
Children have an innate sense of right and wrong often better than that of the adult who cares for them and protects them. We should nurture their desire to share even if it means they sometimes won’t win approval, or they have to alienate another. And I get it kids will have absolutely annoying and pointless grips from time to time, but if we leave those unacknowledged or tell them to not tell on another. There just might come a time when major stuff happens to them, or around them, that they will be too afraid to come forward with. And they will avoid coming to the person they are supposed to trust most with these secrets. They’ll then begin to harbor these things in quiet solitude. Confined to the prison of their thoughts. And once in that state, there might begin a whole different slew of poor ways these secrets might manifest themselves throughout the rest of their lives. They could become reclusive, spiteful, hateful, addictive, abusive towards themselves and others, self destructive. The list goes on and on. All because they were too afraid confide in another. Because we built up barriers in their younger years by telling them falsehoods about sharing information. And those barriers became too insurmountable and it made them too afraid to speak out.
I’m not saying this is always the case and bad things don’t always happen to good kids that choose not to tell on another. But wouldn’t you rather have an open line of communication that knows no bounds? A relationship where trust is paramount and those kids know they can come to you with anything and you will listen? Kids are always going to tattle, listen and be rewarded. Close them off and they’ll begin to learn withholding is the best answer to their problems.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.